Astronauts to Sport Adjustable Glasses In Space

When NASA’s Shuttle Discovery blasts off into space this week, two of its six astronauts will be sporting new spectacles.

Zoom Focus Eyewear LLC

TruFocal eyeglasses from Zoom Focus Eyewear

Superfocus glasses, formerly called TruFocals, will be the first adjustable glasses to reach the great beyond. The wearer slides a lever on the bridge of the glasses to adjust the focus of the lens.

Discovery could launch as early as Thursday, carrying a crew to the International Space Station.

Traditional bifocals and other glasses have long been used in space. But Dr. C. Robert Gibson, a vision consultant to NASA, suggested using the Superfocus glasses because they can be adjusted and give wearers a wide field of view. That’s especially important for astronauts who often have to look above them at monitors. The glasses let them look up without tilting their heads back too much.

He says the absence of gravity can cause fluid in the body to rise to the head, affecting an astronaut’s vision. But the adjustable lenses would allow the astronauts to change the strength of the focus.

The glasses are the brainchild of Dr. Stephen Kurtin, chief technologist at Superfocus LLC. The company, formerly called Zoom Focus, was the silver award winner of WSJ’s Tech Innovation Awards this year. The glasses are meant to accommodate people with presbyobia, a natural loss of focus in the eyes, which happens as we age. The average astronaut is 48 years old.

Speaking at the Dow Jones FASTech conference in Redwood City, Calif., Wednesday, Dr. Kurtin said the adjustability is a boon for astronauts. “They’re floating around, they turn sideways, they need to look up to see instruments, they need to look down to see others,” he said.

To meet NASA standards, Superfocus glasses were tested for four to six months to ensure they met safety standards and didn’t leak gases or fluids. The lenses contain a small amount of fluid.

The glasses cost upwards of $700, and Dr. Kurtin says sales are increasing more than 50% monthly.

Additional pairs of Superfocus glasses are headed to the Space Station, where they’ll be delivered to astronauts currently living in space. The glasses won’t go on space walks, however; they can’t be adjusted from inside a spacesuit.